The pre-war fleet of subway cars built for the city's IndependentSubway under contracts R-1, R-4, R-6, R-7, and R-9 (collectively knownby subway fans nowadays as the R-9s or "arnines") consisted of 1,703nearly identical cars, numbered 100-1802, delivered between 1930 and1940. When the first order of 300 cars, under contract R-1, wasannounced, theElectric Railway Journal reported in November 1928:
The New York City Board of Transportation announced today that it will soon advertise for bids for the construction of 300 steel cars for service on the Eighth Avenue-Central Park West-Washington Heights line of the new subway system. ... For nearly a year, the members of the board and its engineers have been consulting and conducting research on the design of a steel car. As a result it is expected that the cars of the city's new subway system will afford greater capacity and facility, will be faster in operation and have less crowding for the amount of traffic anticipated than other cars now in use in the city.
The new cars, as designed, will be 60 ft. 6 in. long, 10 ft. wide and 12 ft. high. The length will be 9 ft. and 2 in. longer than the Interborough Rapid Transit Company cars and about 7 ft. shorter than the single steel cars now used by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit company. They will permit easy movement of passengers through the end doors between cars, while the train is in motion. The width and height of the new cars will be the same as the width and height ofthe Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit company cars. The new cars will have four double doors on each side, each doorway being 3 ft. 10 in. wide. ...
The arrangement of the seats is somewhat similar to the arrangement now in existence in the B.M.T. cars, but in the city's new subway cars there is to be 2 in. more knee room between crossseats than in the B.M.T. cars. Each car will seat 60 passengers, and when filled with a standing load, each car will have a capacity of 282 passengers. The station platforms are 660 ft. in length, enough to accommodate a train of eleven cars, nearly 30 per cent more than the longest B.M.T. train and 55 per cent more than the present Interborough trains of ten cars each.
The cars will be provided with white-enameled hand straps in front of the seats and vertical stanchions near the doors. The seats will be of heavy, natural-colored rattan. Illuminated route or destination signs will be installed on the sides and at both ends of cars. These signs will carry a designated route number indicating the particular line the train is operating over similar to route numbers now in use on some of the bus lines. Each car will be equipped with five ceiling fans. The equipment of each car such as doors, fans, lights, etc., will be connected to permit operation from one or more positions between cars on the train.
The Eighth Avenue line of the Independent wasn't to open until 1932,and the line to Queens not until 1933. Without a subway line to runthem on, the first delivery of R-1 cars was tested on the BMT's SeaBeach line in 1931. In October, 1931, a second order of identicalcars was placed. Electric Railway Journal reported:
The cost of 300 additional [R-4] cars fully equipped for service on the... new city subway system will be about 27 per cent less than that of the 300 cars [R-1] ordered eighteen months ago, according to the Board of Transportation.... The lowest bid of $6,326,400 for the construction of 300 was submitted by the American Car & Foundry Company, the builder of the first 300 cars. Board of Transportation engineers calculate that the contract awards on the basis of the lowest bids would provide 300 fully equipped cars for $8,546,400, or $28,488 per car, as compared with $11,376,397, or $37,921 per car, for the order of eighteen months ago.
Further orders for nearly identical cars were placed under contractsR-6 (three subcontracts), R-7 (four subcontracts) and R-9 (twosubcontracts). Most of the cars were retired by 1970, with a fewsoldiering on until March 31, 1977, when the remaining cars ofcontract R-9 were operating on the BMT Eastern Division (today's Jline).
Several cars of the "Arnine" fleet have been preserved on NYCTproperty, or at other railroad museums. Cars 100, 484, and 1575 werethe core of the New York Transit Museum's initial exhibit when themuseum opened in 1976. These cars remained on static exhibit thereuntil 2003, when these three cars operated a charity fan trip. Since2003, several other "Arnine" cars have been restored to operablecondition, and the museum train now consists of: 100, 381, 401, 484,1000, 1300, 1575, 1802. Cars 103, 923, and 925 are also retained onthe NYCT property for parts or future restoration. Operable "Arnines"are also included on the rosters of the Seashore Trolley Museum (800,1440) and the Shore Line Trolley Museum (1689). See below for moredetails of preserved cars.
A-00 - A-19 will get new air piping and new D-3 air compressors;B-20 - B-39 will have air lines cleaned and new D-3 compressors;C-40 - C-59 will get new air lines and overhauled D3F air compressors;D-60 - D-79 will have air lines cleaned and overhauled compressors;E-80 - B-99 retain serviceable compressors and a record of low airconsumption.The modified cars could then only run with like-modified mates. The renumbered cars are listed below:A-00 ex-1800; A-01 ex-1799; A-02 ex-1798; A-03 ex-1797; A-04 ex-1796;A-05 ex-1755; A-06 ex-1754; A-07 ex-1753; A-08 ex-1752; A-09 ex-1751;A-10 ex-1737; A-11 ex-1789; A-12 ex-1779; A-13 ex-1772; A-14 ex-1787;A-15 ex-1659; A-16 ex-1654; A-17 ex-1655; A-18 ex-1651; A-19 ex-1658;B-20 ex-1709; B-21 ex-1702; B-22 ex-1703; B-23 ex-1705; B-24 ex-1717;B-25 ex-1720; B-26 ex-1734; B-27 ex-1727; B-28 ex-1730; B-29 ex-1725;B-30 ex-1735; B-31 ex-????; B-32 ex-1742; B-33 ex-1740; B-34 ex-1750;B-35 ex-1743; B-36 ex-1757; B-37 ex-1733; B-38 ex-1748; B-39 ex-1741;C-40 ex-1673; C-41 ex-1674; C-42 ex-1664; C-43 ex-1667; C-44 ex-1679;C-45 ex-1684; C-46 ex-1680; C-47 ex-1675; C-48 ex-1685; C-49 ex-1683;C-50 ex-1657; C-51 ex-1650; C-52 ex-1672; C-53 ex-1652; C-54 ex-1656;C-55 ex-1661; C-56 ex-1662; C-57 ex-1663; C-58 ex-1665; C-59 ex-1670;D-60 ex-1711; D-61 ex-1708; D-62 ex-1706; D-63 ex-1704; D-64 ex-1707;D-65 ex-1712; D-66 ex-1721; D-67 ex-1713; D-68 ex-1718; D-69 ex-1722;D-70 ex-1719; D-71 ex-1714; D-72 ex-1716; D-73 ex-1715; D-74 ex-1732;D-75 ex-1726; D-76 ex-1723; D-77 ex-1729; D-78 ex-????; D-79 ex-????;E-80 ex-1686; E-81 ex-1687; E-82 ex-1691; E-83 ex-1724; E-84 ex-1728;E-85 ex-1738; E-86 ex-1739; E-87 ex-1746; E-88 ex-1747; E-89 ex-1749;E-90 ex-1758; E-91 ex-1761; E-92 ex-1762; E-93 ex-1767; E-94 ex-1776;E-95 ex-1778; E-96 ex-1781; E-97 ex-1792; E-98 ex-1795; E-99 ex-1801.
Image 68877 (187k, 1024x687) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Hewes Street | Image 68878 (248k, 1024x691) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Marcy Avenue | Image 68879 (138k, 1024x671) Photo by: Doug Grotjahn Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: Chambers Street/World Trade Center |
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Image 159543 (334k, 1024x651) Collection of: Gerald Landau/William Mangahas Location: 207th Street Yard |
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Image 83387 (325k, 1044x788) Photo by: David-Paul Gerber Location: Coney Island Shop/Overhaul & Repair Shop | Image 120289 (139k, 1024x658) Photo by: Ed McKernan Collection of: Joe Testagrose Location: 50th Street | Image 130134 (306k, 1044x705) Photo by: Lee Winson | Image 133695 (350k, 1024x643) Photo by: John Dooley Location: 207th Street Yard |
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